JUVENTUS SEASON 2025-2026

[Socrates 9634]

[Socrates 9634]

[Socrates 9634]

Serie A | Cagliari 1-0 Juventus: Spalletti shocked in Sardinia

 

 

Juventus suffered a shock defeat in Cagliari, surprised by the Luca Mazzitelli volley on a set play routine, for only the second loss under Luciano Spalletti.

 

The Bianconeri were on sparkling form after winning six of their last seven Serie A games including a 5-0 demolition of Cremonese. ............

 

The referee pointed to the spot on 15 minutes when Fabio Miretti went down in a coming together with Luca Mazzitelli, but changed his mind following the VAR review, as the Cagliari player had his foot in front and was kicked by the Juventus midfielder.

 

Miretti also attempted a lob from midfield, and forced a save from Elia Caprile on the Jonathan David lay-off, but Kenan Yildiz was booked for simulation after going down in the vicinity of Ze Pedro. ............

 

Caprile flew to palm an Andrea Cambiaso curler round the upright from the edge of the area, while Yildiz rode past three tackles to bend his finish just over the crossbar.

 

Miretti’s half-volley also prompted a one-handed Caprile save, but the ball had already gone out of play on the cross.

 

Instead, Cagliari scored completely against the run of play. It was an intelligent set play routine, as Gianluca Gaetano took the free kick low to find Luca Mazzitelli, who had peeled away from Pierre Kalulu ready to volley into the near bottom corner from 15 yards. ............

 

When the goalkeeper was beaten, he was rescued by the frame of the goal, as the Yildiz strike took a big deflection off Mina to thump the base of the upright.

 

The Bianconeri tried to the very end, but struggled to create clear-cut scoring opportunities.

 

Cagliari 1-0 Juventus

Mazzitelli 65 (C)

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Read more -> https://football-italia.net/serie-a-cagliari-1-0-juventus-spalletti-shock/

 

Modificato 21 ore fa da Socrates

[Socrates 9634]

Juventus fall to Cagliari despite dominating the game

 

 

Cagliari secured a narrow victory over Juventus with a single goal when both sides met this evening, in a result that the visitors may come to regret. Given that Cagliari had failed to win any of their previous three matches, this was widely seen as a fixture that Juventus were expected to win.

 

Juventus arrived in strong form and began the match with confidence, reflecting the momentum they have built over recent weeks. ............

 

As the game developed, it became clear that Cagliari would not be easy to break down. Juventus soon realised they would need to raise their level significantly to find a breakthrough. The home side remained compact and disciplined, forcing Juventus into difficult areas and limiting clear chances.

 

Aside from a penalty appeal that was reviewed but not awarded by VAR, Juventus struggled to create meaningful opportunities in the first half. There was a sense that they needed greater sharpness after the break, but the pattern of the game continued to frustrate them. ............

 

Just after the hour mark, Cagliari delivered the decisive moment. Luca Mazzitelli found the net to give the hosts the lead, stunning Juventus and shifting the momentum of the match. The goal demanded an immediate response from the Bianconeri, who pushed forward in search of an equaliser.

 

Juventus increased the pressure and committed more players forward, but Cagliari defended resolutely. The hosts put everything on the line to protect their slender advantage, surviving wave after wave of attacks. Time began to run out for Juventus, and frustration grew as chances failed to materialise. ............

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Read more -> https://www.juvefc.com/juventus-fall-to-cagliari-despite-dominating-the-game/

[Socrates 9634]

Player ratings: Cagliari 1-0 Juventus – Defensive resilience denies Bianconeri

 

 

Cagliari held firm to pick up a hard-fought 1-0 victory at home against Juventus, and have Luca Mazzitelli and their defensive unit to thank for the three points at the Unipol Domus on Saturday evening.

 

A single goal from Mazzitelli from a set-piece was enough for Cagliari to hold onto against the Bianconeri, who dominated in most statistics and had a penalty decision overturned during the first-half. ............

 

Cagliari: Caprile 6.5; Ze Pedro 6.5, Mina 6.5, Luperto 6.5; Palestra 6.5, Gaetano 6.5, Adopo 6, Mazzitelli 7, Obert 6; Kilicsoy 5 (Borrelli 6), S Esposito 5 (Idrissi 6).

 

Best Cagliari player: Luca Mazzitelli 7 –  ............

 

Coach: Fabio Pisacane 7 –  ............

 

Juventus: Perin 6; Kalulu 5.5, Bremer 6, Kelly 6, Cambiaso 5.5 (Conceicao 6); Locatelli 6 (Zhegrova 5), Koopmeiners 5; McKennie 5.5 (Thuram 6), Miretti 6 (Openda 5.5), Yildiz 6.5 (Adzic n/a); David 5.

 

Best Juventus player: Kenan Yildiz 6.5 – Another performance with glimpses of real quality from the Bianconeri gem, even if things didn’t end up falling for him or his teammates in the final third. He has the ability to take it past opponents in tight spaces and rustle up threatening shots out of nowhere. Eight completed dribbles for him tonight: No other player on the pitch completed more than one.

 

Coach: Luciano Spalletti – Juventus just couldn’t break down the Cagliari block. They spent most of the match in the opposition half, had a whopping 77.9% of possession, enjoyed a pass accuracy above 90%, but crucially, of their 17 shots, only four ended up on target. Frustrating to say the least.

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Read more -> https://football-italia.net/player-ratings-cagliari-1-0-juventus-defensive/

[Socrates 9634]

Spalletti: ‘Juventus players must keep their roles, Cagliari sniffed an opportunity’

 

 

Luciano Spalletti said Juventus must ‘tip our hats’ to Cagliari following a 1-0 defeat, but also criticised his players for wandering out of their roles in a frenetic fightback.

 

The coach had suffered only one defeat in all competition since taking charge of the Old Lady, but after winning six of the last seven Serie A games, this was an entirely unexpected result.

 

They dominated possession in Sardinia, wasting scoring opportunities and punished by a set-play routine, Luca Mazzitelli volleying in the Gianluca Gaetano free kick with his back to goal.

 

Incredibly, Cagliari won with an xG of 0.16 compared to Juve’s 1.28. ............

 

“Cagliari deserved it, because they fought for every ball, closed up and tried to go on the counter. We were unable to be determined enough in preparing the situations, there are games that go like this, we move on,” Spalletti said.

 

“The substitutes got swept up in the frantic nature of the game. Zhegrova and Conceicao dropped back to get the ball in midfield rather than stay up there, so got too far away from the ‘hot’ areas of the pitch.

 

“Kalulu and Kelly then started pushing up the flanks, but no, they are defenders and needed to be defending. We can complain about that, players need to stay in their roles, but in general we played our game, suffocated every attempt at a counter-attack. It was destined to go like this, there’s no point crying over spilt milk. ............

 

“Yildiz was unlucky on two or three situations. I saw some moments where the ball had a different spin on it, bounced slightly harder than expected, it’s down to those tiny details in the end,” continued Spalletti.

 

“These things happen, you tip your hat to your opponents, who brought home a victory that perhaps they didn’t deserve, but sniffed out the opportunity and took it. Maybe next time we can learn from that and sniff out our chance too.”

 

It had been such a big opportunity for Juventus to put themselves in the Scudetto race, knowing they are set to face Champions of Italy Napoli next weekend.

 

Instead, they risk falling further behind the top four, especially if Roma get a result away to Torino tomorrow, and are now 10 points adrift of leaders Inter. ............

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Read more -> https://football-italia.net/spalletti-juventus-players-must-keep-the-roles/

[Socrates 9634]

Juventus make unwanted Serie A history losing with 78 per cent possession

 

 

Juventus have made Serie A history by becoming the first team to lose a game with 78 per cent possession since the data has been collected in 2004.

 

The quite extraordinary statistic was presented by Opta following this evening’s 1-0 defeat to Cagliari at the Unipol Domus stadium.

 

The Bianconeri dominated the match, having 20 shots on goal to just three, 18 corners to one, and with an xG of 1.17 compared to just 0.2 for the Sardinians. ............

 

Nobody else had managed such an achievement since Opta began gathering data on Serie A matches in the 2004-05 campaign. ............

 

Cagliari won with the Luca Mazzitelli volley, which represented their only shot on target, whereas Juve failed to convert any of their five. ............

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Read more -> https://football-italia.net/juventus-make-unwanted-serie-a-history-losing/

[Socrates 9634]

Cagliari 1 - Juventus 0: Initial reaction and random observations

 

 

“Tonight is one of those classic fixtures that can be a trap,” Chiellini told Sky Italia.

 

Consider the trap having been fully fell into. It was just one of those nights — one of those just head-shaking kinds of nights.

 

Chiellini proved to be right on the money. The man knows ball! But you probably knew that already. Juventus, despite what felt like 95% possession — hell, it wasn’t that far off in actuality — and so many waves of attacking movements that made the Attack Momentum meter on Sofascore look like one-way traffic, coughed up three points against the 16th-place team in Serie A. You combine Juve’s complete inability to score on Saturday night and one Luca Mazzitelli half-volley completely out of nowhere and you get Cagliari picking up just their second win over Juventus in the last decade and a half with a 1-0 victory at the Unipol Domus in Sardinia. ............

 

Three points dropped. Three valuable points.

 

The loss means that Napoli — who beat Sassuolo 1-0 earlier in the day on Saturday — will come to Turin next weekend with a four-point edge over Juventus. It also means that Roma can jump back into fourth place if they are to get any sort of positive result against Torino on Sunday. Not exactly ideal no matter how you put it — especially when you consider the fact that Cagliari had been in a rough run of form over the last two months since Juventus played them last.

 

Except, Cagliari did exactly what they sought out to do. Juventus huffed and puffed and completely failed to blow the house down. Spalletti’s squad had 18 corners! EIGHTEEN! But the thing was, that Juve continue to be so ineffective from set pieces that having that many corners just seem to be mostly a waste of time and energy.

 

Did Cagliari defend well? Yes, of course. It’s not like Juve were dealing with the wide-open spaces that they were seeing when they steamrolled past Cremonese five days earlier.

 

But, at the same time, Saturday night’s struggles put a magnifying glass back on what this team still struggles to do in the final third. Whether it’s the lack of execution, the lack of variance, the lack of somebody opposite Kenan Yildiz who can consistently be a threat to break down an opposing defense or just the lack of a big and physical striker who can hurt you with the ball at his feet and in the air. ............

 

The trap game happened. They’re almost impossible to avoid — especially so when you know damn well what’s right around the corner on the schedule in a few days. It’s just about preventing them as much as you can no matter how much somebody like Chiellini or Spalletti continues to warn you about them.

 

Juventus didn’t do that on Saturday night. And they handed Cagliari one of their only wins in the last three months because of it.

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS

• Juventus primavera won on Saturday. Juventus Next Gen won on Saturday. Juventus senior team … I guess I will just stop there because we know what hapened.
• Give Jean-Philippe Mateta and give him to me now. A striker who can do something in the air wold be really nice considering how useless all those crosses Juventus sent in against Cagliari and how they resulted in absolutely nothing.
• Juventus sending in 1,000 crosses against Cagliari and Filip Kostic didn’t even touch the field. Amazing.
• Sending in a ton of crosses to two strikers who aren’t all that great in the air. Seems like a mistake.
• Then again, with things so packed because Cagliari defended the middle of the field so well — yes, you’re allowed to say the opponent did something positive, it’s OK —
• Fabio Pisacane was in the squad the last time Cagliari beat Juventus, huh? Well he certainly looks good for somebody who’s almost 40 years old, that’s for sure. (Although guessing a relegation battle will wear on him a little bit however much longer he’s in a job with the club he play for until 2021.) ............
• I feel safe in saying that Elia Caprile is a very good goalkeeper and he probably won’t be playing at Cagliari next season. Dude is 24, only getting better and should be playing for a much bigger club in Serie A.
• A couple of those saves that Caprile made, especially the ones against Fabio Miretti and then Yildiz in the second half that skipped off the wet turf or a Cagliari player (or both), were just fantastic reflex stops. Guy is good.
• I can already feel it now. All of the good things said about Jonathan David the last couple of games just flying out the window like you’re in an airplane that is 30,000 feet above the ground. The funny thing is, it’s not like he was the sole reason why Juventus lost. Did he play well? No, but the swing from “He’s improving!” to “He’s back to being crap!” is wholeheartedly predictable.
• Eighteen corners. Twenty-one shots. An xG of just 1.32. That ain’t gonna cut it, man. ............
• Juventus’ defense on that free kick, though? Yeah, kinda sleepy.
• OK, so on the third or fourth look I guess I agree that it wasn’t a penalty on Miretti. In the moment, though, well that’s a completely different kind of reaction. I thought that was 100% a penalty at first.
• Speaking of 100% that was basically how much possession Juve had in the final 20-25 minutes.
• There’s throwing the kitchen sink at an opponent chasing the lead. Then there’s Luciano Spalletti out here and basically throwing on every single available attacking player for a good chunk of the second half against Cagliari. If only it had resulted in a goal or two, right? ............
• That Locatelli and Teun Koopmeiners double pivot just ain’t it. Just not working at all. ............
• It is rather unfortunate that two of Juventus’ most frustrating performances over the last two months have come against two of the worst teams in Serie A.
• Our guy Kenan looks tired.
• This would have been a great chance to get Kenan some rest ahead of the Champions League returning. Instead, there he is in the 03rd minute trying to will this team to a point after a disappointing performance. ............

Read more -> https://www.blackwhitereadallover.com/previews-reviews/35539/cagliari-juventus-2026-serie-a-matchday-21-final-score-result-initial-reaction-random-observations

[Socrates 9634]

Juventus player ratings vs Cagliari: One-man Yildiz show not enough in Sardinia

 

 

Juventus suffered their first loss of 2026 after failing to find the back of the net against their hosts Cagliari, who won the contest thanks to a single shot on target.

 

The Isolani adopted a low block and managed to absorb the visitors’ pressure before stunning them with a superb volley from Luca Mazzitelli that was worth three valuable points. ............

Juventus XI (4-2-3-1)

Mattia Perin – 5.5

Although the goal wasn’t necessarily his fault, as he didn’t have a good vision of the ball, this was Cagliari’s only shot on target.

Pierre Kalulu – 5.5

The Frenchman was slow to react to Mazzitelli’s movement on the goal. Didn’t provide much in the attacking phase.

Gleison Bremer – 6

 ............

Lloyd Kelly – 6

 ............

Andrea Cambiaso – 6

A mixed bag from the full-back, who made some important interventions at the back, but was also wasteful in possession at times.

Manuel Locatelli – 6

 ............

Teun Koopmeiners – 6

The Dutchman ran more than any other player on the pitch, but like Locatelli, didn’t provide the quality touch when in possession.

Weston McKennie – 5.5

 ............

Fabio Miretti – 6

It wasn’t a bad display from the young midfielder, who tested Elia Caprile on a few occasions, but it was still a slight step back compared to his previous outings.

Kenan Yildiz – 7

The Turkish star had a relatively quiet first half, considering his standards, but was almost unplayable after the break, dribbling past his markers almost at will. He only lacked the final touch, and perhaps some quality from those around him.

Jonathan David – 5

The Canadian’s two-match scoring run came to an end after failing to cause harm for Cagliari inside the box. He was at times bullied off the ball by the nasty Yerry Mina.

Substitutes

Edon Zhegrova – 5.5

The Kosovar found little success with his crosses and dribbles.

Lois Openda – 5

 ............

Khephren Thuram – N/A

Francisco Conceicao – N/A

Vasilije Adzic – N/A

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Read more -> https://www.juvefc.com/juventus-player-ratings-vs-cagliari-one-man-yildiz-show-not-enough-in-sardinia/

[Socrates 9634]

“That’s not right” – Spalletti wasn’t pleased with four Juventus players after Cagliari defeat

 

 

Juventus head coach Luciano Spalletti felt the team was unlucky against Cagliari, but he still wasn’t happy with the individual performances of some of his players. ............

 

After the contest, Spalletti admitted that Cagliari deserved to win considering all the effort they put in throughout the match, especially in the defensive phase.

 

“I can explain why Cagliari deserved it, because they fought for every ball, defended well and tried to break forward effectively,” said the 66-year-old in his post-match interview. ............

 

The Juventus manager brought in tricky wingers Edon Zhegrova and Francisco Conceicao in the second half, but neither was able to make the difference. The Tuscan thus criticised the duo’s displays, especially with their positioning.

 

“Even though they have the characteristics to operate in that kind of congestion, they get dragged into the frenzy and lose clarity.

 

“Conceicao was dropping back to play as a holding midfielder, Zhegrova was drifting away from the danger area, forcing Kalulu and Kelly to cover the flanks. That’s not right. They have to stay in dangerous zones and make the difference.” ............

 

“We played the game, kept the tempo high and suffocated every one of their attempts. It was just meant to go this way. Everyone has their head in their hands, but we did what the match required. We need to be better at exploiting a few more moments, like the free kick awarded for the goal.

 

“They were also a bit fortunate, but in football, these episodes go for you or against you. Maybe next time they’ll fall our way. We have to be sharp.

 

“Yildiz was then unlucky two or three times. I saw four or five moments where the ball just broke the wrong way. It becomes hard to criticise the players. Like the shot against Lecce: it hits the post, crosses the line and comes back to the goalkeeper.

 

“These things happen. You congratulate the opponents even if they probably didn’t deserve it. Let’s focus on adding something extra in the next match.” ............

 

Spalletti was then asked about Jonathan David and Lois Openda, who failed to inflict the damage inside the box.

 

“What did they lack? Certainly pace,” said the Juventus manager in his post-match press conference.

 

“With more pace, they would have carved out more space to shoot and create more.” ............

 

“Yildiz always shows the same level of quality. He did well and produced a very good performance, despite not being 100 per cent because of the flu.”

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Read more -> https://www.juvefc.com/luciano-spalletti-four-juventus-players-cagliari-defeat/

[Socrates 9634]

Effective playing time in Cagliari vs. Juventus sparks Spalletti’s protest

 

 

Juventus coach Luciano Spalletti complained about Cagliari wasting time during the Bianconeri’s 1-0 loss in Sardinia, with the effective playing time in the game barely exceeding 52 minutes. ............

 

Juventus coach Spalletti was unhappy with the attitude of Cagliari players in their Serie A encounter at the Unipol Domus on Saturday.

 

The Bianconeri dominated proceedings and had the best chances against the Rossoblu, but lost their second game under Spalletti due to a Luca Mazzitelli goal in the second half. ............

 

“[Referee] Massa tried to give more minutes of added time, but people started falling to the ground, and it’s something that has to be fixed,” Spalletti said.

 

“One has to play football and not waste time on every throw-in. That’s how five or six minutes passed by.

 

“They don’t want to play with actual playing time, but these things will only continue to grow.

 

“Massa actually added even more time because of stoppages, but it has to do with resting and slowing the pace of the match, taking whatever breaks you want to regain your composure,” concluded the Juventus coach.

 

“Ten players were constantly throwing themselves on the ground. Something needs to be done about it. First it’s a cramp, then a contact, then a kick that never even happened.” ............

 

As reported by Opta, out of the 98 minutes in the game, the effective playing time was just above 52 minutes. ............

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Read more -> https://football-italia.net/effective-playing-time-juventus-spalletti/